Whitney = melted butter

[Kharlamov]

is there any player in the league softer than this guy. hopefully letang will improve over the next year or two and we can dump whitney. i understand offensive d-men who don't focus on punishing the opponent, but this guy does not do anything physically.

bye

[imnosortoffabric]

he certainly isn't improving....actually he is regressing

[crzymike]

he certainly isn't improving....actually he is regressing

Agreed

[cs6687]

I love threads that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

[imnosortoffabric]

I love threads that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

yes because he was just not good tonight. What game couldn't we have this thread. He hasn't been good all season besides the game right after therrian singled him out.

[bhaw]

I love threads that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

yes because he was just not good tonight. What game couldn't we have this thread. He hasn't been good all season besides the game right after therrian singled him out.

What game HAVEN'T we had this thread

[pens#1]

I love threads that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

exactly, put it in the game thread

[cs6687]

He did play bad tonight. However, Letang has a worse plus/minus than Whitney, and was non-existant for most of February. However, nobody called him out. That's just a bit of a double-standard, don't you think?

[westside]

I try to stay positive with Whit, but he did have a bad game tonight. It was hard to notice since the rest of the team did too. Pens looked very unfocused. Oh, well. Just one game, another important one coming up on Sunday.

[imnosortoffabric]

He did play bad tonight. However, Letang has a worse plus/minus than Whitney, and was non-existant for most of February. However, nobody called him out. That's just a bit of a double-standard, don't you think?

letang is a rookie who looked pretty damn good tonight by the way.....whitney is in his third season in the nhl. if letang is as bad as whitney in his third year then i will complain.

[westside]

He did play bad tonight. However, Letang has a worse plus/minus than Whitney, and was non-existant for most of February. However, nobody called him out. That's just a bit of a double-standard, don't you think?

Wait till next year. Letang will be crucified on here after bad games... see Jordan Staal

[bill from turtle creek]

But I thought Letang was the Messiah? Surely no one will turn on him, ever.

[jmcst35]

Look.. Whitney definitely is an amazing offensive d-man on our team. We all know that. I just can't believe that his 1 on 1 or corner work is so bad. That's honestly hockey 101 for d-men.

You have a good enough offense.. you now need team defense. Coach needs to switch our 1 on 1 down low (d-zone) to something else. We also need team back checking if this will work in the playoffs.


If we played a 1-2-2 or a 2-3 or even a simple trap or a left/right wing lock we can give our d-men some consistency to step up earlier. The cycle is killing out nuetral zone play because all 3 guys seemed to get trapped a LOT easier.

There are a lot of ways to make up for a bad 1 on 1 d-man and coach needs to implement a structure or else we'll be ousted in the playoffs.

[bhaw]

Look.. Whitney definitely is an amazing offensive d-man on our team. We all know that. I just can't believe that his 1 on 1 or corner work is so bad. That's honestly hockey 101 for d-men.

You have a good enough offense.. you now need team defense. Coach needs to switch our 1 on 1 down low (d-zone) to something else. We also need team back checking if this will work in the playoffs.


If we played a 1-2-2 or a 2-3 or even a simple trap or a left/right wing lock we can give our d-men some consistency to step up earlier. The cycle is killing out nuetral zone play because all 3 guys seemed to get trapped a LOT easier.

There are a lot of ways to make up for a bad 1 on 1 d-man and coach needs to implement a structure or else we'll be ousted in the playoffs.

Weren't we playng a 1-2-2 last night vs TB? I could have sworn we were at least for a good chunk of the game. Espo even specifically pointed it out on the radio saying the TB was totally baffled on how to handle it because there were no Pens pressuring them out of their zone.

PS - For all the MT haters... he was matching lines tonight (again, at least for part of the game)

[imnosortoffabric]

Look.. Whitney definitely is an amazing offensive d-man on our team. We all know that. I just can't believe that his 1 on 1 or corner work is so bad. That's honestly hockey 101 for d-men.

You have a good enough offense.. you now need team defense. Coach needs to switch our 1 on 1 down low (d-zone) to something else. We also need team back checking if this will work in the playoffs.


If we played a 1-2-2 or a 2-3 or even a simple trap or a left/right wing lock we can give our d-men some consistency to step up earlier. The cycle is killing out nuetral zone play because all 3 guys seemed to get trapped a LOT easier.

There are a lot of ways to make up for a bad 1 on 1 d-man and coach needs to implement a structure or else we'll be ousted in the playoffs.

Weren't we playng a 1-2-2 last night vs TB? I could have sworn we were at least for a good chunk of the game. Espo even specifically pointed it out on the radio saying the TB was totally baffled on how to handle it because there were no Pens pressuring them out of their zone.

yep we sure were

[imnosortoffabric]

the problem is...our defenders back up almost to the goaltender when an opponent comes at them with the puck. its almost like they retreat hoping an offensive player backchecks and it not...hope the goalie makes the save.

[clover11]

the problem is...our defenders back up almost to the goaltender when an opponent comes at them with the puck. its almost like they retreat hoping an offensive player backchecks and it not...hope the goalie makes the save.

probably just got used to conklin now and think he is there to make a save when for example they allow 50 shots on goal...

[imnosortoffabric]

the problem is...our defenders back up almost to the goaltender when an opponent comes at them with the puck. its almost like they retreat hoping an offensive player backchecks and it not...hope the goalie makes the save.

probably just got used to conklin now and think he is there to make a save when for example they allow 50 shots on goal...

its been happening a long time before conklin

[clover11]

the problem is...our defenders back up almost to the goaltender when an opponent comes at them with the puck. its almost like they retreat hoping an offensive player backchecks and it not...hope the goalie makes the save.

probably just got used to conklin now and think he is there to make a save when for example they allow 50 shots on goal...

its been happening a long time before conklin

but it seems to be happening more since he was in goal, i may just be imagining that though.

[jmcst35]

Look.. Whitney definitely is an amazing offensive d-man on our team. We all know that. I just can't believe that his 1 on 1 or corner work is so bad. That's honestly hockey 101 for d-men.

You have a good enough offense.. you now need team defense. Coach needs to switch our 1 on 1 down low (d-zone) to something else. We also need team back checking if this will work in the playoffs.


If we played a 1-2-2 or a 2-3 or even a simple trap or a left/right wing lock we can give our d-men some consistency to step up earlier. The cycle is killing out nuetral zone play because all 3 guys seemed to get trapped a LOT easier.

There are a lot of ways to make up for a bad 1 on 1 d-man and coach needs to implement a structure or else we'll be ousted in the playoffs.

Weren't we playng a 1-2-2 last night vs TB? I could have sworn we were at least for a good chunk of the game. Espo even specifically pointed it out on the radio saying the TB was totally baffled on how to handle it because there were no Pens pressuring them out of their zone.

PS - For all the MT haters... he was matching lines tonight (again, at least for part of the game)

you can't play a 1-2-2 w/ a cycle... almost all of hockey is transition hockey. If u have 3 trapped then you have NO nuetral zone play at all.

It's hockey 101. In fact when I was 4 years old learning. The cycle was the first thing we were taught. Lol. Sad.

Focus on this.. we dump the puck in.. if we are playing a 1-2-2 then ONE GUY goes after... 2 play top of the circles and DONT LEAN IN and the dman stay nuetral on the blue line .

THEN if they get past our first guy.. we back up and cause them to stall and then we attack.



You can't do that w/ 2 guys chasing for a cycle. Since hockey is mostly transition... you need to play a system that counters from d-zone to nuetral zone to offensive zone.

You can't play three seperate styles. You can't play the cycle then say "Oh we're going to trap as well" It doesn't work. If you dump the puck in (like the pens do..) 1 guy chases 2 guys stay higher. If we get the puck in the corner we need to come out w/ it or keep a guy w/ D-SIDE POSITIONING in the cycle. If 2 guys get trapped then we simply have a break down in the system.

I believe the Pens play the best when they get rid of the cycle... play high in the offensive zone and play GOOD defense and create turnovers and odd man situations. That cycle almost generates NO offense. It's so stupid for laraque to skate around.. hold the puck then throw it wildly to no one. Even if he connects on a pass... he can't open up for a shot.. ORR even cover a d-man because he is to slow.

It's pointless

[Mongoose87]

the problem is...our defenders back up almost to the goaltender when an opponent comes at them with the puck. its almost like they retreat hoping an offensive player backchecks and it not...hope the goalie makes the save.

probably just got used to conklin now and think he is there to make a save when for example they allow 50 shots on goal...

its been happening a long time before conklin

but it seems to be happening more since he was in goal, i may just be imagining that though.

You are. They've consistently done it throughout MT's reign.

[ExPatriatePen]

I love coaches like MT that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

Fixed it for you.

[Jim]

I love threads that single out one player after a game in which 90 percent of the team stunk.

And when it is a good game but someone comments on a player doing poorly people say things like "I love threads that single out one player after a game in which the team overall looked great. Can't we just be happy we won?"

[phi83mark]

It's not even his defense anymore. His passing has become really lazy as well. He frustrates me so bad at times. Also, what happened to his ability to bang the puck home on those cross ice passes. It seems like he holds it forever and waits for everyone to get set up in front of him.

[PenguinSteve-o]

it seems like Crosby has a good game every time. Malone has a good game every time. Conklinator pretty much has a good game, letang sometimes, Orpik at least trys and punishes the team each game, kennedy and those guys hussle their asses off each game...i mean we just need more players like these. whiteny just dosnt seem to try and not good at what he is supposed to do. play solid D and score.